Zelenskyy says allies gave no early warning before Russian missile strikes on Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Western partners of failing to alert Kyiv before a massive Russian missile and drone attack overnight, which damaged more than 10 energy facilities across 11 regions and left at least 550,000 households without electricity.

The overnight strikes involved 16 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and 269 drones targeting locations across the country, including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, and the capital. Kyiv local authorities reported one person killed and eight injured after residential buildings, a school, a metro station, and medical facilities were struck.

Taking to social media on Monday morning, Zelenskyy said Russia launched the ballistic missile attack in multiple waves without any prior notification from international allies. He linked the lack of warnings to wider friction over military support, warning that delays in air defence deliveries and sanctions relief for Moscow amount to a denial of reality by Ukraine's partners.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuri Ihnat confirmed that Kyiv received no early warning before the initial ballistic barrage hit power plants at around 11pm on Sunday, though a warning was received prior to a subsequent wave at 3am.

Washington denies intelligence pause

Speaking on a trip to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio flatly denied that Washington had cut off or paused intelligence feeds to Kyiv.

Rubio stated that there had been no pause in intelligence sharing and questioned why Zelenskyy was making such statements to the press. He added that US European Command was looking into the situation, noting that a software issue involving the early warning system had occurred a few nights earlier.

US officials had not previously cited a software glitch, with Ukrainian officials earlier reporting that bad weather over southern Russia had obscured launch preparations during previous incidents.

Rising diplomatic tensions

The dispute comes amid public friction between Kyiv and the Trump administration. US President Donald Trump recently waived a package of congressional sanctions against Russia, stating on Truth Social that he is negotiating peace and does not want to drive Moscow away from the bargaining table.

Ukrainian officials have expressed growing concern over slowed deliveries of PAC-3 air defence interceptors from the US and delays in weapons purchased through European procurement schemes. Ukraine’s deputy energy minister Artem Nekrasov confirmed that rolling blackouts and power restrictions for industry have been introduced nationwide following the latest damage to the grid.

Russia’s defence ministry acknowledged carrying out a massive high-precision strike using ground-based weapons and drones, claiming the targets were military-industrial facilities, drone production sites, and logistics infrastructure in and around Kyiv.